Franklyn Marks was an American composer, arranger, and orchestrator, who worked on several Disney features, both animated and live-action, as well as television films, such as Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar and The Boy Who Talked to Badgers.
Marks was born in Cleveland, Ohio and his parents provided piano lessons and so rapid was his progress that, by 1927, he was performing on WHK radio with his high school jazz ensemble the Harmony Knights. Upon graduating from Glenville High School, he was awarded a scholarship to attend Dartmouth College, where he majored in music. He toured as pianist with the Barbary Coast Orchestra, Dartmouth's acclaimed dance band, and maintained such high academic standing that he earned membership in Phi Beta Kappa as well as a senior fellowship. Graduating in 1932, Marks became a pianist for the Merle Jacobs Orchestra and an arranger/musician for Irving Aaronson and his band which recorded Marks' arrangement of "Love in Bloom" with Bing Crosby.
Now living in New York as a staff arranger at NBC Radio, Marks was working with many artists, including Red Nichols, Dinah Shore, Eddie Cantor, and studied under Joseph Schillinger and taught his method of composition to fellow musicians. From 1944 to 1946, he served in the U.S. Army with the 97th Armed Ground Forces Band. Settling in Los Angeles with his family and began writing original compositions for symphonies, arranging and composing scores for film and television, and taught at the California Academy of Music.
Beginning his career with Disney in 1955, Marks, under Paul Smith's tutelage, learned the specialized techniques used to create scores for animated cartoons and live action films. He contributed to Mickey Mouse Club and the Disneyland anthology series before orchestrating music for films, such as Third Man on the Mountain, Sleeping Beauty, The Sword in the Stone, Babes in Toyland, and The Parent Trap.
Marks died on July 12, 1976 following a long struggle with cancer.